Bomb blast kills 14 at pro-Taliban party rally in Pakistan, official says

PARACHINAR, Pakistan – Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility hours after an attack on a pro-Taliban political party in the semiautonomous tribal area of Kurram Agency that left 14 people dead.

The Taliban, told Fox News in an email, “We attacked Munir Orakzai because of the crimes he committed against Islam and Mujahideen,” and they vowed to kill Orakzai and never to forgive him.

Taliban claim that the anti-U.S. leader Orakzai of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam religious political party is an American agent who handed over dozens of Arab fighters to the U.S. currently imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay prison and worked with pro-American parties in Pakistan who shed the blood of innocent tribesmen.

Javed Khan, a government administrator in the Kurram tribal region where the bombing took place, told the Associated Press that Monday's attack also wounded 50 people.

He says the bomb was apparently planted near the main stage of the rally, and two party leaders escaped unhurt.

The Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam party is considered supportive of the Afghan Taliban's fight against the United States and its allies. It's also sympathetic to the Pakistani Taliban.

The Taliban have in recent weeks attacked secular Pakistani parties. Elections are to be held on Saturday amid tight security after a string of militant attacks that have left several dozen people dead.